Happy Halloween, everyone (especially those of you with kids who will be entering the trick-or-treat mayhem tonight).

Kobe booed by Lakers fans in loss, then scores 45: Seriously, WTF is up Kobe and the Lakers? In last night's season opener, Kobe was booed... by his own fans. Yes, Kobe opened the season with 45 (18 in the 4th quarter) and by the end, they were cheering him, but still... (Meanwhile, Yao may be an injury risk, but if healthy, he's going to dominate.)

Quote of the Day: David Stern on the Knicks. "They're not a model of intelligent management." Leave it to the Commish to put it as well as anyone has ever put it about Isiah, Dolan and Co. What more needs to be added to that? We all vigorously nod our heads in agreement.

NBA Season Openers: Spurs get rings, win opener. Duncan: 24/13. Parker: 19. Ginobili: 16 and 8 assists. As far as "Big Threes" go in the NBA, you can have KG-Allen-Pierce; I'll take the defending champs. How, exactly (if they even make the Finals), will Boston top that?

Breakout Watch: LaMarcus Aldridge, who had 27 for the Blazers in their loss to the Spurs. He's going to have a monster year, and that's BEFORE Greg Oden returns from injury.

GoldenState starts on a losing note: Then again, isn't that how the first 2/3 of their season went a year ago? (Baron Davis: 25 points, 10 assists, 5 steals... fantasy wow.)

Tim Duncan signs 2Y/$40M extension with Spurs: Duncan is the anti-Kobe. Unassuming, team-friendly, low-profile, content... and, currently, a winner. Any doubt that the Spurs will get at least one title from those two years?

(Meanwhile, when LeBron James asked for help, do you think he meant the team re-signing Sasha Pavlovic to a three-year deal? Umm... no.)

Yankees hire Joe Girardi: To recap this week's analysis, the good news is that a Northwestern alum got the job; the bad news is that I suspect he won't have the job a year from now. But who knows?

Grady Little leaves Dodgers, looks like Torre is a done-deal: Look, the last time a team fired Grady Little, they went on to win two of the next four World Series championships, so things are looking good for the Dodgers (especially if they hire Joe Torre and Don Mattingly).

MLB Hot Stove Pre-Heat: Are the Phillies interested in Curt Schilling and Mike Lowell?... Are the Yankees and Mariano Rivera ready to deal?.. Will Jorge Posada stay in New York – to play for the Mets?...

Marketer sues Reggie Bush and his family for $300,000 in cash and prizes the player received during college: And yet the NCAA can't make any headway with an investigation? How ludicrous.

CFB Must-Read: Sunday Morning Quarterback had an unbelievable take-down of Hawaii on Monday that you have to read. Once you do, you will never even CONSIDER putting them in your Top 25, let alone the ludicrous position in the human polls in the low teens.

Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year: As part of my ongoing partnership with the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award, be sure to check out my blog at coachoftheyear.com. DS.com CFB fans are encouraged to weigh in on the Coach of the Year race in the comments section. Should the front-runner be BC's Jeff Jagodzinski, Kansas' Mark Mangino... or someone else?

Soccer: Can you imagine a more fun World Cup setting than Brazil in 2014?

Prep Football: Two-a-Done. Hoover (Alabama) High coach Rush Propst will leave the team at the end of the season after a scandal-fueled (if successful) career. I'm quite sure he'll end up elsewhere, turn the team into a USA Today Top 10 powerhouse, then be outed (and ousted) as a cheater there, too.

Anyone watch "Around the Horn" yesterday? I got a tip from TBL that I got a totally random name-check from Woody Paige, although I presume it was done for mockery value. In my illustrious and erstwhile ATH career, for all of its debacle-ness, Woody was genuinely nice to me. Hey: Maybe he just wanted to add a little blogger cred to the show. Erik Rydholm and Aaron : Call me! (Making phone hand-sign)

R.I.P., Robert Goulet: I was remiss in not talking about this earlier. He will always be beloved by sports fans for his incredible ESPN college hoops promos, quite possibly the best non-"This Is SportsCenter" promos the network ever created.

Varsity Dad vs. Halloween: At what point (if ever) is it OK to dress your toddler as a sports hero for Halloween? My kid has a Percy Harvin jersey, but that ain't happening: He's going as a monkey.

(Brooklyn parenting is a bit of a scene, as I expect this evening's trick-or-treating to be. For example, our local kids' parade is led by Dan Zanes, who lives nearby. For parents with kids, they'll know who I'm talking about. Needless to say, I don't think it's a crowd that would appreciate the spectacularness of a kid costumed as Harvin.)

132 comments:

Actually, LeBron really wanted Sasha back and now they have him at a reasonable 3 year deal. The Cavs want to get better this year, but they want to have cap flexibility the year before LeBron is a FA. They'll have a lot of deals coming off the books then, something like 25 million plus so that they can get some big time help for him then. They'll still be in the hunt just because of him. From everything I've seen and read, he will have a monster year and has improved his shooting technique finally and should be a lot more consistent.

The ATH mention seemed good natured by Woody. He mentioned that he used to have talks with you and someone over lunch about the topic. Reali kind of made fun of you though with a questionable sounding "Dan Shanoff?"

The Pavlovic signing was good for the Cavs...they got him at a reasonable amount and like Joey said, they have a lot of salary coming off the books next year...enough to the tune of making a run after Agent Zero...we'll start clearing space for you on the Wine and Gold bandwagon, Dan.

He lost his job the first time because he made a mistake that no longer really haunts Red Sox fans but before that he did get his team to Game #7 of the ALCS which is pretty good. With the Dodgers, yes he has sucked.

As much as it hurts me to say this, Jim Tressel is the coach of the year right now. He's got the #1 team in the country, but more importantly, he's done it with all of his own recruits.

Jags is in Year #1 @ BC. He's mostly playing Tom O'Brien's players. Tressel has been at tOSU long enough to recruit and build a winning brand.

Also, considering that 2 of the 3 teams I hate the most are atop the National Standings, I'm quitting on CFB for the rest of the year until Michigan plays in the Rose Bowl (and probably chokes it away) again.

torre is the phil jackson of baseball...jackson won 9 championships with the bulls (6) and lakers (3)...but he can't even get his team deep into the playoffs without shaq and kobe, or michael and scottie...he is a good coach, but not as good as everybody thinks...torre is built the same way...he won with a team of all stars...let's see how he does with a normal team he has to actually spend some time with and coach

Hopefully the Red Sox sign Lowell and send Schilling packing. The only way I want to see Schilling backs is if the Red Sox have to trade a couple of there young pitchers to get Santana and then Schilling will make a great 5th starter.

Kobe-I'm not sure I've ever seen a guy get booed when he is being introduced before the game and then had the crowd chanting M-V-P at the end of the game.

Jazz "Big 3"I think that Mehmet Okur would be in their "Big 3" over Ronnie Brewer. He did, you know, make that whole All-Star game thing last year right?

Reggie BushSo a guy tried to bribe Reggie during college when he wasn't supposed to, Reggie didn't sign with the guy, now he wants the gifts back?

Dan on Around the Hornhttp://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3087198&n8pe6c=2&categoryId=2957349&brand=nullI will agree that it sounded like a dig by Reali though. I have to admit that I thought that was odd because when I was interning on ATH/PTI a couple years ago (in Dan's days no less) I found Reali to be one of the nicest guys ever.

@cmfost "Hopefully the Red Sox sign Lowell and send Schilling packing. The only way I want to see Schilling backs is if the Red Sox have to trade a couple of there young pitchers to get Santana and then Schilling will make a great 5th starter."

Dennis Erickson cannot be left out of the coach of the year race. What he's done with the Devils, especially the defense, is amazing. If we get a win over Oregon on Saturday there's a good chance ASU will be in the national championship game.

I watched the whole game and I have to say that there were about 4 times where Kobe drove, was ligitimately hammered, and they called no foul. Duncan is way worse in the sense that he almost always whines on plays where he isn't even touched.

Late breaking news last night was that the Cavs and Verajao's agent were "talking" but they were still "pretty far apart." He thinks he's worth $9-10 million per, which is ridiculous seeing as how he can't score a lick. I say $6-7 per or let him try his luck elsewhere. The Cavs already have enough bad contracts...

And yeah, I was on the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown bandwagon last night. The kids enabled me!

Does anybody know if they sell the jerseys from Friday Night Lights? I have a feeling that those would make great costumes. I personally don't do Haloween except handing out candy cause of the whole Jewish thing.

If anybody remembers this, they had a few jerseys made (I think 3) from Playmakers. They sold out in like 2 days and then the show was cancelled. They are now worth hundreds of dollars and basically impossible to find. Last year on Haloween I saw someone wearing one though.

I watched charlie brown last night too although I was kinda disappointed there was no cavemen on. That show is like the movie Gigli so bad that it is funny.

Milk Duds - Best. Candy. Ever.

A good friend from college is from Brazil and he called me last night to pontificate on how crazy it will be for the WC. Everyone I know says Brazil is amazing if you can get past the crime and grime, but there is no question it will be magical. I gotta figure out how to get there.

"Let's not forget the real significance of Halloween, which is, of course, scads and scads of free candy."

No no no... The real significance of Halloween is all the co-eds from the local college or university walking around in "costumes", which are basically a reason for them so show off their... um... assets.

Don't worry everybody - I'm young enough that I can make that joke without seeming creepy. Or at least, I hope so.

I had a friend from HS who went to FSU back during the Free Shoes U era. He dressed up like Amp Lee and had a bag full of stuff from Footlocker. How a Miami fan could go to FSU and meet his future wife I don't know but I guess stranger things have happened.

marco - The Red Sox do not need Schilling as anything more then a fifth starter next year and I would rather see them go out and spend that money on getting Santana via a trade and then signing him long term. What top 3 in your rotation would you rather have,

Schilling, Beckett & Dice-K or Beckett, Dice-K and Santana

And if you answer the one with Schilling you are way to sentimental and know nothing about Baseball.

Wow, I'm so glad I had completely blocked ProStars out of my memory until then. Man did that show suck. Definitely nowhere near as good as Laff-A-Lympics...

I don't think the Red Sox front office will re-sign Schilling if he can get $12 million elsewhere. Simply put, he isn't worth that kind of money anymore. If he goes from the Red Sox I'll be eternally grateful for helping bring this team 2 World Series championships, but I couldn't necessarily disagree with the front office either if they came to the conclusion that he isn't worth that kind of money anymore.

I think by the end of the year if Schilling were to re-up with the Red Sox, he'd be their 4th best pitcher, behind Beckett, Matsuzaka, and one of Lester/Buchholz. Even within the year this year, his stuff declined tremendously. Once hitters start to make adjustments to his offspeed stuff, he could be in trouble.

Dots themselves aren't bad, but the grossness of the way they stick to your teeth is just gross. Though my mom used to give those or starburst to me whenever I'd have a loose tooth as a kid, to help the tooth come out... a bit gross, but way better for a kid than pulling it out through some barbaric means, etc.

Not to change the subject... but speaking of Santana, I truly believe he will not only be the first $20M pitcher (Clemens notwithstanding - his numbers are completely skewed), but that Santana could command up to $25M a year. Especially if a team makes a trade for him with th 72-hour negotiating window for an extension.

Sadly, A-Rod's contract will affect more than just A-Rod. If he manages to get $30M per, I don't see any way Santana doesn't command $25M. The Best hitter and Best pitcher in the game - seems pretty simple to me.

The Red Sox would be dumb to give up Lester, Buchholz, and whatever combination of Lowrie, Coco, and Ellsbury it would take to get Johan. All of those guys (except Coco) are cost controlled, and the Sox don't have guys in the farm system that could immediately step up into the rotation as 4/5 guys, which then would essentially force them to re-sign Schilling.

Theo loves his prospects, he isn't getting rid of Buchholz or Ellsbury. Lester possibly, and at some point Lowrie is likely to go, but those alone wouldn't get the deal done for Johan. And Johan will probably, at his age, look for a deal around $20-23 million/season. Considering what Barry Zito got last offseason, that seems about right in terms of market value.

The hot rumor being propogated on WEEI in Boston (which means it will never happen) is Coco Crisp, Jon Lester, Clay Bucholtz to Minnesota for Santana, assuming that the Red Sox get the negotiating window for an extension with Santana.

From the Red Sox perspective, I do that deal in a heartbeat. You always trade a "prospect" for a proven veteran. If the Sox are lucky, Lester and/or Bucholtz will become 2/3 of what Santana already is.

I disagree wholeheartedly Big D, you do not always trade a prospect for a proven veteran. There are a ridiculous number of examples of where this has been a really bad move.

But to this specific deal, trading Buchholz AND Lester would be absolutely stupid. Yes, Johan might be the best pitcher in baseball, but I really do believe Buchholz could be a solid #1/#2 (in the category right below ace), and that Lester can be a solid #3/#4. Considering that both guys combined would make less than a million next year, and you'd have both for 6 and 4 more years respectively, I don't think you make that deal for Johan who would probably want a 7 year deal at $150 million.

Now in the short term, it might pan out (although the Red Sox don't have anyone who could immediately come in and be the #5 starter unless you want to re-up Schill for $12 million); but in the long term will Johan be better than a combined Buchholz Lester in three years? I'd actually be surprised.

You don't make that deal. It's giving up too much if you're the Red Sox. Also, listening to WEEI makes you dumber.

See, to me you've made my point. Saying Bucholz "could be" a good #1/#2, and Lester "can be" a #3/#4... I mean, if you're giving up guys with "potential" to get a guy who's already achieved that potential - to me, that's a no-brainer.

@D, On the open market, Johan could get 6/150, but if one team is exclusively negotiating, 7/150 is more like it I think. Think about the case of Zambrano where the Cubs were the only team negotiating with him.

But the likelihood that Buchholz and Lester will reach those ceilings is pretty good IMO. Considering they are cost controlled for the next 6 and 4 years respectively, I think I'd rather have both guys than Johan (who will be what, 35 by the end of a 7 year deal?).

Again, it's a ton of potential with a pretty decent bet at reaching it

Not that Larry Anderson or Victor Zambrano were as good as Johan, but those are some obvious examples of when you absolutely do not trade your prospects for proven MLB talent. And even though I was in favor of the deal at the time, trading Engel Beltre, Murphy, and Kason Gabbard for Gagne was also another example of why you shouldn't 'always' make the deal.

Buchholz' ceiling is probably rated higher or at least equal to that of Kazmir at this stage. The scouts and numbers guys LOVE Buchholz.

Anyway, my biggest point I guess is that I'd definitely take issue with your statement of 'always' trading the prospects for proven veterans. It reeks of what the Yankees did earlier in the decade that basically screwed them over.

Id much rather have hard candy like jolly ranchers over pretty much anything else. Never really cared for chocolate other than milk duds. Hell I don't even like birthday cake. I second Jen doing studs and duds on monday.

Actually I will volunteer to do a Monday studs n duds as I pay much more attention to football than I do any other sport. Granted as much of a homer as I am I would try to limit the number of gator alums I go on and on about. Of course the only really good UF alums in the NFL are all on defense with one or two exceptions.

Seriously, Manny rarely understands the questions sports reporters are asking him in a locker room or on the field after games. Does anybody doubt he'll miss the "subtle" sarcasm and humor that Leno drops into the conversation?

I hope this isn't on tonight at the same time Papelbon's on Letterman. I only have one DVR, and I'll probably be passed out before either show starts.

Personally, Manny should be good for some odd, uncomfortable humor. I can see Papelbon just making a complete ass out of himself.

Also, word is Papi is on Conan. man, talk about drawing the short straw...

no no, i got it. as a yankee fan i found it funny anyway. Wonder if Manny will finish his career in Boston or in NY. Cannot see him not coming back home to the Bronx to finish it. Wonder what a full season in that stadium would translate to? He would be the perfect DH for a couple years in his late 30s

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.